The End of the Game
by PenPatronus
Summary: COMPLETE Steve, instead of Pepper, is with Tony when he dies.
1. Version 1

**Summary:** Steve, instead of Pepper, is with Tony when he dies.

**The End of the Game**

Version #1

PenPatronus

Steve Rogers felt nothing but the dust and stabbing heat and, in that moment, saw nothing but Tony. He dropped what remained of his shield and sprinted forward past the disintegrating Thanos. He reached Tony right when his knees buckled. "I've got you," he gasped, walking Tony backwards and then helping him sit against a hill of debris. The gauntlet of stones clanged when it fell against a rock. "I've got you." Steve knelt beside Tony and slid his right hand behind his friend's neck. "Look at me. Tony?"

Voices yelled around them. Victory shouts. Ash and dust floated through the air. The Wakandans chanted. The wizards shot gold fireworks into the sky. Valkyrie performed loop-de-loops on her stead. Bodies rushed around as people exchanged handshakes and high fives and hugs. Those who witnessed Tony wielding the Infinity Stones jogged towards him, full of congratulations. None got within ten yards. All stopped and stood staring, mute. The battlefield shifted from exhilarated screams to a mourning silence.

Steve ripped off his cowl and pressed it against blood leaking from a crack in Tony's armor. He spotted a heavier bleeder, then, one coming from Tony's right shoulder. Steve put his cowl there, then moved it again at the sight of an even bigger bleeder then… then he realized that the blood was much to much. He looked down to see Tony's right arm mangled. The armor had been burned right off. It took the skin with it. Steve saw _bone_. The right side of Tony's torso, neck, and pale face was burned nearly black. His right leg was just blood. Tony stared, unblinking, at nothing.

"Oh, God." Steve's stomach plummeted. "Oh God, _no_. TONY!"

Tony made eye contact. "Cap," he whispered on a shaky exhale. "Did it… Did it…" Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

Steve nodded. "It worked. You did it. You saved the world. Tony… You saved the _universe_."

Thundering footsteps approached. Steve heard Bruce's breath hitch. More boots on the ground—Thor. Lighter shoes jogged towards them. Clint. A suit landed nearby. Rhodey.

Tony licked white lips. "It hurts."

Water filled Steve's eyes.

"Mr. Stark!"

Steve recognized the kid's voice. He was running, but someone intercepted him. A sound exploded from Peter that was half sob, half wail.

"Pep… M-Morgan…"

Steve didn't know what to say, but he wanted—no, needed—to say something, so he just whispered, his voice hitching, "Tony..."

The fingers on Tony's right hand fluttered. Steve cradled them. "_Hurts_," Tony repeated, softer this time.

"Just… Just squeeze my hand. Squeeze my hand, ok?" Steve sniffed.

Tony's eyes leaked. "_Scared_."

Steve shook his head. He thought better of it, then, and nodded. "Me too."

"Hold me."

Steve was. "I am." He leaned forward and touched their foreheads together. "I'm here."

"M-Miss you, S-Steve…"

"Miss you." The sob erupted from deep within Steve's chest. "_Always_."

Tony raised his face. The corners of his mouth rose then fell in an almost-smile. Then, he was looking past Steve. Through him. Beyond him. His body deflated. He stopped squeezing Steve's hand. Before Tony's eyes shut, and stayed shut as they would forever, Steve heard him whisper one last word.

"_Dad_?"

**The End**


	2. Version 2

**The End of the Game**

Version #2

PenPatronus

Steve Rogers had never run so fast, or so clumsily. With embarrassing inelegance, he tripped his way across the battlefield and caught Tony as he collapsed forward. Stark's chin landed on Cap's left shoulder and only stayed because Steve grasped the back of his head and held him. They fell together, slowly, Steve careful to keep the trip as gentle as possible. Cap, after successfully rearranging their limbs for Tony's ideal comfort, held his friend half in his lap, half upright with the back of Tony's neck cradled against the inside of his elbow. Steve tossed his cowl aside and dragged wet fingers back through his hair—fingers wet with blood, he realized, too late. Tony's blood. Already the pool beneath them was deep. Too deep. Dust floated around them like they were in a dark snow globe. Sitting inert in the dirt beside them, the gauntlet and Infinity Stones glittered in what light remained. Mocking beauty.

Steve wrapped his left hand around Tony's. "You're ok," he said, out of breath and gasping. "Tony, you're ok. You'll be ok."

"Liar," Tony croaked fondly, the word spoken so very differently than the accusation five years before. Tony trembled so hard it felt to Steve like an earthquake. "Cap, I—"

"I'm sorry," Steve interrupted. "About everything—everything that has happened between us. About… About your parents. Forgive me." Everything felt hot: the air, the cracked Iron Man armor, Tony's skin, the blood… "Tony, please forgive me."

Tony managed a smile. "Forgive ME," he insisted. His voice was barely louder than a breeze.

"You—" Steve's words caught in his throat. He struggled to clear it. "You saved us. Tony, you saved us all."

A figured landed in Steve's peripheral. He looked up to see Thor standing there, his head cocked to one side, analyzing the scene. Half a minute passed and then Thor set Stormbreaker down in front of him, and knelt on one knee. Bruce jogged over. The Hulk gradually retreated until it was just Bruce there, arm mangled from his own use of the Stones. Banner approached Tony almost on tiptoes as if he was afraid his own footsteps would cause his friend more pain. "Oh, my god." Banner collapsed to his knees on Tony's right. He reached out to touch him then retreated, thinking better of it, then reached out again. Bruce settled for resting his palm on the arc reactor in the center of the broken armor. "Oh god, Tony…"

Steve held Tony closer. "Is there any way…?" he whispered, begging the doctor. The tears that overflowed from Bruce's eyes answered the question. Blood streamed from the corner of Tony's mouth to his collarbone. Bruce wiped it away with his sleeve.

"Tony?" Clint came sprinting full speed to them. He stopped just past Thor, then backpedaled behind him, shaking his head slowly. He looked down at his helpless hands, then raised them to his face.

Tony returned his attention to Steve. "Listen to me," he whispered. "I found it. I found a l-life. With Pepper. With Morgan. Find one." Tony swallowed and his voice got even softer. "Steve, you can rest now. You all can."

Cap shook his head. He choked on the third syllable when he said, "Without you?"

Tony looked at him with fondness. His breathing was slowing.

Steve heard it, then. The silence. Only the crackling of nearby fires was audible. He looked around. Thor still knelt on one knee and Clint mirrored the pose beside him. Behind them, hundreds more, the survivors, they were all kneeling as well as if before a king. Rhodey and Peter, Wanda and T'Challa, Sam and Bucky… Everyone. Some held up a salute. Some braced their fists against their chests. Some bowed their heads all the way to their chests. All mourned the universe's hero.

Steve wanted his friend to see their gratefulness. "Tony, look." Steve shook Tony's body a little. "Look, Tony."

"Steve," Bruce gulped.

Cap didn't want to look down. He didn't want to look into his friend's unseeing eyes, but he had to. He knew what to expect—how many bodies had he seen on how many battlefields?—but the absence of life in Tony Stark still startled him. Steve's lower lip trembled. A tear traveled down his cheek and landed right on Tony's.

And Cap cradled Tony's cheek and said what the hundreds of kneeling men and women were saying. "Thank you."

**The End**


End file.
